Take charge of your (online) life

Friday

Mar 15, 2013 at 12:01 AM

If you've never plugged in your name on a Google search, go ahead, give it a try and see what pops up.

There might not be anything there.

Or there could be more than you know.

Samantha Helmick, public services librarian at the Burlington Public Library, for instance, Googled and found a photo of her 14-year-old self that once appeared on her Facebook page but hasn't in quite a while.

Yet there it was, found online and cataloged for use by a website that isn't hers.

It's pretty innocuous, as far as it goes. But the picture does show how, in the digital age, your online life may not be entirely your own. People you know - and even ones you don't - can copy and paste, download or otherwise capture and store anything they can access.

"You have to be careful what you put out there," Helmick said.

The only sure-fire way to keep your private stuff from getting into other people's hands online, she said, is not to put it out there in the first place.

And if you have chosen to step into the digital realm, it is important to know what to put where. Different social networks or sites with social network-style features serve different purposes, and each site isn't for everyone. Facebook offers a broad spectrum of services, from chat to photo-sharing to gaming, and plenty of people want all that. Others might be happy to stick with the 140 characters of a message on Twitter.

Those who want only to share photos might be most comfortable with Flickr, or Instagram, the photo-sharing service for smartphone users. Crafters, meanwhile, could be satisfied with just a Pinterest account.

Generally speaking, people don't need to be on every social network that's out there, Helmick said.

"You can't stay with every trend," she said.

Lois Blythe, information technology director at the library, pointed out the library offers a regular schedule of classes to help people learn how to live in the digital world, whether it be how to use an iPad or how to use social networks.

Learning the ropes is an important step to take in managing life online, especially for newcomers. Blythe described an example involving a novice Facebook user who didn't understand a conversation she was having with a friend was open for all her other friends to see. The problem was, the back-and-forth was on her profile page rather than via the messaging function, which is private.

Taking a class before signing up with a social network can help prevent those kinds of issues.

"At least have your eyes open before you jump in," Blythe said.

It may seem like everyone is on Facebook, Twitter or some other social network, but statistically speaking, that is far from true. Facebook may have a billion users, but that leaves 6 billion people who aren't members. Yet those who don't have digital identities shouldn't assume they can't be found on the Web, though.

"You're online whether you want to be or not," Helmick said. The Web-based white pages at 411.com include name, address, maybe a telephone number and the names of other members of the household. Fee-based public records sites offer even deeper access. "You may as well learn how to protect yourself and be part of digital society."

Blythe said the notion of a private life is a "misconception" in the digital age. And based on her reading, Helmick said she is not aware of any way to strip personal information from websites.

People who have taken the plunge into the social space have a responsibility to themselves to stay on top of what is out there for others to find.

"You have to own your digital citizenship," Helmick said.

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